The Postmaster. General, on Monday, made a speech in answer
to Mr. Cameron, which virtually admitted that the charge for telegrams must be reduced. The number sent, he said, through- -out the :United Kingdom was only 80,000 a day, and as there were 5,000 stations, this was so small an average as to prove that the rate "was virtually prohibitory." It was, however, impossible to make the change at once, on account of the financial risk. The Telegraph employes had pressed for increased -salaries, he had granted an increase of £80,000, and the profit on the Department would therefore not exceed 2100,000. On the other hand, the risk of loss involved in the reduction would, it was calculated, amount to 2170,000, and the Treaeury was not prepared, in the present condition of the finances, to part with that sum. The Treasury must he in a very timid mood indeed, if it is not willing to risk an experiment which would multiply the use of the telegraph fourfold, and within four years, according to the opinion of the experts, repay itself. Indeed, it might repay itself many times, for there are no means of estimating 'what the difference in the number of telegrams would be. Reductions affect the imagination, as well as the purse, and three needless telegrams will be sent at sixpence, where only one is :sent at a shilling.
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